Zeng uses materials that are associated with traditional Chinese painting and watercolor-handmade paper, inks, and watercolors. However, the technique that he employs is uniquely his own. Using two sheets of handmade paper, Zeng adheres one sheet to a board, then takes the second sheet and paints the image on the surface. Once the image is dry, he flips it over and adheres it to the first sheet on the board. Thus, the image is sandwiched between the two sheets, which have the delicate translucence of rice paper, and the viewer sees the image through the paper. The result is that the paintings have a luminously faded look-a look of faraway urgency. While there is a mild obscuring of the image, its intensity still shimmers through, accented by a layer of black ink added to the top surface of the children's scarves, making them pop off the canvas.
The Header series, a group of recent paintings by Zeng Jianyong, refers to a term used in the People's Republic of China to denote the head of the class-the top pupil, a child who not only earns good grades, but respects his or her elders and gets along well with others. The "header," held up as an example of all-around excellence, is something that Chinese children eagerly aspire to be. At the same time, the existence of this lauded position highlights how much cultural pressure there is to excel in both scholastic and social environments-pressure that can at times become harmful and oppressive. In more extreme cases, this pressure has led to depression and even suicide.
Zeng's paintings depict a single child or group of children in ordinary dress against an empty, neutral background. An armband bearing three horizontal stripes and a prominent black scarf worn about the shoulders identifies the header. Intended as emblems or caricatures rather than realistic portraits, Zeng's children, while discernible from one another, all have a distinct trademark look-ruddy marks on their skin that could be blood stains, overly large heads, tiny noses and mouths, and startling silver-gray eyes that look like shattered marbles.